The lovely side of life

Fall reading

Yesterday was the first day of school. Everyone was smiling at the end of the day, including me. Hashtag: blessed.

My own first day back outfit was a J. Crew leopard cardigan, a blue and white button down shirt, jeans, and pearls. I’m not going back to school, but it’s always a good idea to look a little fancy, no?

I don’t know about you, but once school is back in, I’m just done with summer. I want it to get really cold, so I can den in. I want to put on a sweater and get a plaid blanket and curl up in front of the fire reading book after book.

Let’s pretend it’s October now.

I’ve been reading through Karen Kingsbury’s Baxter family series. I wish the Baxters lived next door so I could go hang out in their kitchen. Kingsbury has written about 7000 books so I’ll be reading these for a while.

The longer we keep our heartaches tucked away in the dark, the more menacing they become. Pulling them into the light among trusted people who love you is, I swear, 50 percent of the recovery process.

and

Life can be hard because life can be hard. We’re not doing it wrong.

and

Rock bottom teaches us that God is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do. We buy what we’ve been selling because it is real. God’s healing work means actual lives are restored, actual hearts are mended, actual strength is renewed.

If you are looking for beautiful writing, I loved loved loved Alice Anderson’s Some Bright Morning, I’ll Fly Away: A Memoir. Anderson is an accomplished poet who, in her memoir, tells the story of her abusive marriage in the days following hurricane Katrina. The subject matter is hard and I’m only able to read it now that memories of my own brush with abuse are more distant. I’m so very thankful I did not marry or have children with the man. Anderson’s experience of the family court system and having to co-parent with an abuser is impossibly hard and her courage is astonishing. This is not a “faith” story in the traditional sense at all, but it’s a beautiful story of redemption.

I have a huge stack of books that are waiting for me. The print ones may go unread since my eyesight is still giving me trouble. But I have plenty of ebooks lined up with the BIG HUGE FONT setting. All I need is a cup of tea and some free time.